Friends of HRSP: Summer 2026 Newsletter

Summer 2026 Newsletter

Friends of Harpeth River State Park

Membership Program Launch

We have launched our official Membership Program and hope you'll join us!

Your membership grants you access to special Friends events and directly supports our mission to aid the Park with education and conservation programs.

In recent years, the Friends group has funded access-road repair at Mound Bottom, trail maintenance and electric equipment upgrades, internet security monitoring for various park locations, a motorized rescue kayak, native plant garden, and so much more.

Ready to make a difference?

Start your journey by becoming a member today!

JOIN TODAY

Annual Meeting

Wednesday, July 22 at 6:00 pm

Pegram Community Center

You're welcome to join us for our Annual Meeting July 22nd. We'll recap Friends and Park updates from this past year, as well as share upcoming plans and events. This is a great opportunity to learn about the Park and Friends group and find ways you can get involved.

We will also hold our annual Board Officer elections. Members (see above and join us!) as of July 21, 2026 are eligible to vote.

We look forward to seeing you!

Hidden Lake Native Plant Garden

If you have walked at Hidden Lake recently, we hope you enjoy the trail and stair improvements made by our Park Ranger team. You may have also noticed the native plant garden in full bloom. The garden is a joint project between the Friends and Park staff. Projects like these are just a few ways donations to the Friends group are used to help the Park.

Through the month of July, we're holding a fundraising campaign to raise $2,000 for three new park benches at Park sites. These benches provide a place to rest or a spot to relish the sites and sounds of nature. Your one-time gift or monthly donation is full tax-deductible. Thanks in advance for your gift!

DONATE

Harpeth River Clean-up with Harpeth Conservancy

Thank you to Harpeth Conservancy for organizing and leading a river clean-up project last month in which Friends members participated. And thanks to the Harpeth River State Park Rangers for providing the kayaks. 

The group removed six tires from the river! And a slew of other trash.

If you would like to help with future clean-ups, please complete the volunteer form on our website.  

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Your Giving Tuesday Gift Makes A Difference

Join the Friends of Harpeth River State Park on Giving Tuesday, December 2, 2025, and raise vital funds to support programs at Harpeth River State Park! The Friends of Harpeth River State Park is a non-profit group dedicated to preserving, protecting, and enhancing Harpeth River State Park. We would love your help!

Our goal this year is to raise $3,000 for the purchase and installation of two park benches and a concrete picnic table for visitor use at Harpeth River State Park. These enhancements improve visitors' experiences and create gathering spaces for all to enjoy.

The park benches and table are proudly made in the USA, and the park benches are made of recycled plastic.

Over the past several years, funds raised by the Friends group have helped purchase the motorized rescue kayak, provided electric weed-eaters and chainsaws, funded a necessary grading project on the access road to Mound Bottom, plus expanded new program offerings like the Spring Bluebird Day and nest box monitoring.

Giving Tuesday is an annual event, held since 2012, and dedicated to boosting generosity, and helping build a world where giving is a part of everyday life. We thank you in advance for participating at the gift level that's meaningful to you!

To donate, just follow this QR code to give via Square:

Or, visit this Link to give via our secure website.

We're excited to keep you posted on our Giving Tuesday campaign and future Park projects and programs!

On behalf of the Friends group, Happy Thanksgiving!

Camp Boxwell at The Narrows

In June of 1930, the Nashville Area Council of The Boy Scouts of America located a summer campground at the Narrows of the Big Harpeth River on 100 plus acres owned by Nashvillians Justin Potter, John Blair and W.L. Lucas. The Narrows site provided a deep-water swimming hole plus a river loop that allowed canoeists to put-in upstream and travel 5 ½ miles downstream circling a steep limestone bluff and taking-out only 220 land yards from where they put-in. Vanderbilt University Track Coach William J. Anderson was camp director and “Coach” was assisted by several members of his track team along with volunteers who taught classes on outdoor activities. Upon arrival, campers were assigned to one of 10 tents accommodating ten campers each. Two additional tents housed the camp cooks and the director's staff. After stowing their gear, the campers elected a mess hall director, a postmaster, a lost and found man, and reporters who filed stories with the Nashville Banner and the Tennessean newspapers. Each tent chose a tent leader and elected a representative to the Camp Council that made and enforced camp rules and judged and sentenced violators.

The center of the camp featured a flagpole, fire pit, assembly area, and athletic fields. The camp’s mess hall was on the ridgetop above the current Harris Street parking lot. The assembly area and tents were scattered throughout the wide hollow on the far side of the mess hall. The camp’s waterfront was on the Harpeth Riverbank to the left of the kiosk at the Harris Street take-out, where summer campers once studied for merit badges in swimming, water safety, and canoeing.

Camp Boxwell was named for Leslie “Box” Boxwell, manager of the Tennessee Metal Culvert Company, who served as Nashville BSA Council President. "Box" offered the use of his company’s earth-moving equipment for camp improvements and its flatbed trucks to transport campers to and from the Narrows. The camp's mess hall was supervised by Walter Whitaker, who cooked for scouts during the summer and prepared meals at a Vanderbilt fraternity house during winter semesters.

Scouts awoke to the sound of the bugler at 6:30 AM and assembled at the flagpole for flag raising and group calisthenics. For its first 11 years, Camp Boxwell had no showers, so bathing was done early in the morning in the chilly waters of the Harpeth River. Walter served breakfast at 7:30, then scouts returned to their tents for inspection and two hours of Scout School while council representatives met to deal with camp issues. At Scout School, volunteer instructors taught artificial respiration, handicrafts, bird watching, first aid, reptile studies, forestry, and civics. Bugling was also offered but the student horn blowers were required to practice out of hearing range.

Following lunch, scouts were free to hike the 100 acres of bluffs and hollows of the Narrows property, play baseball or volleyball or escape the July heat by taking a dip at the waterfront. During “free swims” each scout was required to sign-in and designate a “buddy” of similar swimming ability. Every few minutes the waterfront director would blow his whistle for a “buddy check” that required each pair of “buddies” to join hands and thrust them skyward to confirm all swimmers were safe.

Dinner and flag lowering ceremonies occurred at dusk. After the evening meal, scouts would participate in stunt nights or tell ghost stories around the campfire.

In 1940, Boxwell at the Narrows made capital improvements that included an electric generator, new mess hall, shower house, filtration plant for drinking water, and a health tent. Eight years later newly hired Council President Ward Akers determined the steep hills and deep hollows of the Narrows property were not conducive to the expansion plans he had in mind. Following the 1948 camping season, Boxwell moved from its Narrows of the Harpeth location to Rock Island on the Caney Fork River near McMinnville TN.

The Narrows acreage remained under the ownership of the Middle Tennessee Council, BSA and was used as a weekend camping location for area scout troops until 1978, when The Council sold the property to the State of Tennessee to be used as a state park.

By Chuck Neese from Research by Grady Eades, virtualboxwell.org